How TechnologyIs Changing Media

An in-depth look at how BuzzFeed is leading the industry’s trends in social, mobile, and video.

Social

The shift from search to social isn’t just in progress: it’s already here.

According to Shareaholic, social is now the #1 source of referral traffic to content on the web.

Search vs. Social

35%

Share of traffic to publisher content

Search

Social

Apr '14

May '14

Jun '14

Jul '14

Aug '14

Sep '14

(Shareaholic)

Every BuzzFeed post and video is designed for sharing, which explains why BuzzFeed’s traffic is at the forefront of the shift to social.

BuzzFeed's social traffic is

5X

its search traffic.

(Google Analytics)

Social is on a serious growth path, and millennials are the driving force behind it. They rely on social sites for both news and entertainment content, and are more likely than any other generation to share both types of content to their feeds.(eMarketer)

71%

of millennials visit social sites daily.

(eMarketer)

Social feeds are the new homepages, so investing in content designed for social and mobile is becoming increasingly important.

50+%

of US millennials read BuzzFeed per month.(comScore)

Though the shift to social has already arrived, the shift in digital budgets lags behind.

By shifting more ad budgets to social now, brands have the opportunity to engage millennials while pioneering new formats in social content.

Search

Social

29.2%

45.1%

29.4%

13.6%

Share of Referral Traffic

Share of Digital Ad Budget

Share of Referral Traffic

Share of Digital Ad Budget

(eMarketer, Shareaholic)

Mobile

Social may be how content is distributed today, but mobile is how it’s consumed.

Mobile has taken the lead as the primary platform for social and sharing, and usage continues to rise.

60+%

of time spent onsocial is on mobile.(US Adults/eMarketer)

Just as with social, millennials are a driving force behind mobile’s huge growth.

2h51 per day

US adult smartphone users

5h12 per day

US 18-34 year old smartphone users

(eMarketer)

Social content can no longer spread if it isn’t viewable and shareable on mobile.

Today, 2 out of 3 people who read BuzzFeed are doing so on a mobile device. Because of this, BuzzFeed’s content is created for mobile first, resulting in more mobile traffic and higher sharer rates.

By 2018, online video will be the most highly penetrated residential service globally, with a projected 1.9 Billion users. It will outpace digital cable, time-delayed TV, video on demand, online music, online gaming and social networking. (Cisco)

Projected GlobalMobile Video Users

1B

2.4B

2014

2018

(Cisco)

Global mobile video users will grow by 2.4X between 2014 and 2018.

(Cisco)

(Cisco)

Share of Total Global Media Spend

2014

2016

Digital Video

Mobile

TV

1.6%

2.2%

6.7%

13.3%

37.4%

36.3%

0%

25%

50%

50%

25%

0%

1.6%

2.2%

6.7%

13.3%

37.4%

36.3%

Digital Video

Mobile

TV

(eMarketer)

But even as global users adopt mobile and online video faster than TV, global advertising dollars are not being shifted quickly enough to catch up.

As global brands push toward these trends, those who act sooner will have the advantage. Identifying socially savvy, mobile-first, video-ready partners like BuzzFeed will be the key to success.